The European car market continues to stutter in the face of a lack of delivery parts. In June, new car registrations in the European Union (EU) continued their weak record of the previous months, with a total of 886,510 vehicles, fewer new cars were registered than in a month since 1996, as the industry association Acea announced on Friday in Brussels. The minus compared to the same month last year was 15.4 percent, as in the three previous months, in double-digit percentage terms. In the first half of the year, there was a total decrease of 14 percent to 4.6 million cars.
In the first six months, the top four markets have all suffered a double-digit drop in registrations, most notably in Italy (minus 22.7 percent) and France (down 16.3 percent). But also Germany (minus 11 percent) and Spain (minus 10.7 percent) performed poorly. Even in countries that no longer belong to the EU Great Britain the passenger car market suffered a decline at a similar level.
The War in the Ukraine, the continuing shortage of semiconductors and soaring raw material and energy costs made life difficult for automakers across Western Europe – including the countries of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and Great Britain – in the first half of the year. The hardest hit manufacturers in June were Volvo and Mazda, with declines of 49.1 and 47.5 percent, respectively.
The German brand Volkswagen lost 30 percent on a monthly basis compared to the previous year, which was characterized by Corona. at bmw it was minus 19.3 percent when Opel-Mother Stellantis minus 15.4 percent and at Mercedes Benz minus 2.2 percent. France’s Renault grew by 0.8 percent over the same period.